Minerva Cuevas’s solo show, In Gods We Trust at kurimanzutto, centers on “The Trust” (2022–23), a mural wall relief consisting of 126 panels. As is typical for Cuevas, the work concerns economic and environmental issues that affect communities across generations and cultures. In the case of “The Trust,” the artist highlights the origins and continued impact of these issues.
The work is rife with imagery and symbols from pre-Hispanic cultures and mythology, including the Aztec goddess of water and fertility, Chalchiuhtlicue, and the mythological deity of lust, vice, and excess, Tlazoltéotl. These are paired with representations of plants, animals, and symbols of natural resources like the sun and rain. Interspersed are recognizable emblems from contemporary corporations, including banks and oil companies from across the world — though most are American. A Shell oil logo sits next to an image of a conch shell. A closer look at the sun reveals the British Petroleum symbol. A soaring eagle is the logo of First Republic Bank. The palm tree makes up half of the national emblem of oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Cuevas chose these emblems for their use of natural imagery and symbols associated with power, endurance, and strength.
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
In pairing pre-Hispanic iconography with representations of nature and contemporary corporations, Cuevas draws a connection between colonization, trade, and the devastation of the natural world. This message continues throughout the show. In a sculpture series titled Petro (2023), three-dimensional scans of animal figures from the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City sit atop repurposed vintage motor oil drums. Nearby, a sculpture titled “Tlazoltéotl Priest” (2022–23) features Tlazoltéotl sitting on real financial newspapers with headlines like “No News Is Bad News at Tesla.” The deity has black acrylic paint that evokes oil spread across its arms and face.
In the context of current events, it’s hard not to think of the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. There are many reasons not to trust corporations or the sociopolitical and economic systems they are a part of, but the modern societies we live in are reliant upon both. They provide the resources needed to support our lives. Even as one company fails, like Silicon Valley Bank, those of us in developed countries perpetuate them simply by living our daily lives, despite the ramifications, including the environmental impact Cuevas outlines in the show.
Inherent in Cuevas’s practice is this problem of having trust in systems. She incorporates evidence of European and American society’s ambivalence, even ignorance, toward fundamental global issues in a series of vintage oil company advertisements from the 1950s to 1970s. With messages that range from racist to anti-science, it’s hard to believe they’re real. In one work, the ad for Humble Oil (now Exxon) reads, “each day Humble supplies enough energy to melt 7 million tons of glacier!” In another for Mobil, the gas company touts its activities in Africa, describing native people in racist terms.
On multiple occasions, visitors could be heard asking gallery staff if the ads had been photoshopped or invented altogether. As ironic and shocking as the texts and images are, they are indeed real, and the messages were commonplace in the mid-20th century. The public trusted, and to a great extent still trusts, these companies. While Cuevas’s sculptural works highlight the connection between colonialism, corporations, and environmental devastation, the ads are a reminder of the blind trust that made the system possible in the first place.
In Gods We Trust continues at kurimanzutto (520 West 2oth Street, Chelsea, Manhattan) through April 15. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
Source: Hyperallergic.com